Redruth - Encyclopedia

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES

REDRUTH, a market town in the Camborne parliamentary division of Cornwall, England, 17 m. E.N.E. of Penzance, on the Great Western railway. Pop. of urban district (1901) 10,451. lies high, on the northward slope of the central elevation of the county, with bare rocky moors to the south. It is the chief mining town in Cornwall, and the bulk of the population is engaged in the tin mines or at the numerous tinstreaming works. The parish church of St Uny, of which only the tower is ancient (Perpendicular), stands outside the town to the west, at the foot of a rugged hill named Cam Brea. On the summit of this hill, besides a monument (1836) to Lord de Dunstanville and a small ancient castle, various prehistoric remains are traceable. A museum attached to the science and art schools and a miners' hospital are notable institutions in Redruth. A large quantity of the tin is sold by public auction at the mining exchange, the sales being known as tin-ticketings. There are manufactures of safety fuses, breweries, iron foundries and railway works. Tramways serve the neighbouring mines and the small port of Portreath on the north coast.